Collar and lining material therefor



March 14, 1939. E. A. KING COLLAR AND LINING MATERIAL THEREFOR FiledSept. 17, 1937 INVENTOR A. K ma- ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 14, 1939 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE Edward A. King, Dorchestcr, Mass, assignor ofone-half to Charles F. Adams, Framingham,

Mass.

Application September 17, 1937, Serial No. 164,339

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to folding or turn-down collars, moreparticularly of the socalled soft collar type, and to a novel fabricconstruction for use as a lining ply in such collars.

Collars of the type referred to are commonly constructed of one or moreface plies of fabric of texture and design to match that of the shirt,

F usually constructed from heavier or stiffer fabric than the face pliesand may be chemically treated or coated to add stiffness.

When a lining ply is employed for the leaf portion, it is desirable thatit extend over the fold line of the finished collar, to stiffen the foldline portion and also to permit attachment of the upper edge of thelining to the face plies in the neckband, thus avoiding seams adjacentthe fold line in the leaf portion. However, while it is desirable tostiffen the fold line to some extent, it must be left sufficientlyflexible for ready folding and also to present a yielding, rather than asharp, hard edge, to the neck of the wearer, since a sharp, hard edge isuncomfortable for the wearer and is apt to cause breaking or excessivewear of the face fabric in the fold portion. The maximum degree ofstiffness desirable in the fold portion of the lining to meet theserequirements is considerably less than the degree of stiffness desirablein the leaf portion.

Various proposals have heretofore been advanced for the production of acollar in which the zone constituting the fold line is more flexiblethan the turn-down or leaf portion. Thus it has been proposed to weaveall plies of the collar together as a multiple ply interwoven fabric,and to omit some or all of the warp threads from the fold line area ofthe back or inner ply. In such case, however, the fabric is greatlyweakened in the fold area and breaks easily in use, and, furtherrnore,the resultant difference in thickness between the fold zone and adjacentarea produces an unsightly bulge in the leaf portion adjacent the foldarea. It has also been proposed to produce such a collar of separatelywoven plies in which the leaf area and fold area of the lining ply arecomposed of strips of different fabrics separately woven and joined bysewing. In such case, however, the seam joining the strips produces anundesirable bulge or ridge in the leaf near the fold line.

It is an object of the present invention to produce a multiple plycollar in which the fold area is of greater flexibility, but notmaterially weaker, than the turn-down leaf portion, and which has noobjectionable bulge between fold and leaf portions. It is a furtherobject of my invention to produce a collar lining material which may becut to form a unitary lining for fold and leaf areas, or fold, leaf andneckband areas, of such a collar. It is a still further object of theinvention to produce a lining material for collars which may beuniformly coated with a chemical composition while yet having narrowzones to constitute fold areas of greater flexibility than other zonesto constitute leaf areas.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following descriptionof my invention and from the appended drawing, in which:

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 illustrate strips of lining material made in accordancewith my invention;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section view of part of the lining shown in Fig.2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a two-ply collar embodying lining made inaccordance with the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a sectional View of a three-ply collar embodying lining madein accordance with the present invention;

, vFig. '7 represents a modification of the construction shown in Fig.4.

Preferably my lining material, indicated by the numeral I in thedrawing, is woven as a tape of single lining width which comprises arelatively stiff area 3 having a relatively flexible border strip 2, asshown in Figs. 1 and 2; or two relatively stiff areas 3 joined by aflexible strip 2, as shown in Fig. 3.

The novel characteristics of my lining' are attained primarily byemploying yarns of different characterv for the longitudinally extendingyarns, generally the warps, in the areas 2 and. 3 respectively. As shownin Fig. 4, for the longitudinally extending yarns 4 in the stiff area orareas 3 of the fabric, I use a relatively coarse heavy yarn such as aheavy duck yarn, for example a number 8 or 10 single ply, or number or22 two-ply yarn. In the flexible area or areas 2, however, I employlongitudinally thereof, relatively fine, light-weight yarns 5 such asare employed in. print cloths or light-weight sheetings, for example anumber single ply yarn or a number 60 two-ply yarn. The transverse yarns6, which are uniform in size and character throughout the fabric, arepreferably also of the relatively fine, light-weight type similar to theyarns 5 but preferably slightly heavier, such as a number 22 single plyor number 53 two-ply yarn.

Since the yarns 5 are finer and lighter than the yarns 4, the area 2 islighter and more flexible than the adjacent area 3, although notmaterially different in strength and wearing qualities. This differencein degree of flexibility is independent of the character of thetransverse yarns 6 em ployed, as they are uniform throughout the fabric.

' areas 3 due to difference in character of the yarns lighter than theyarns 4. At the same time, to

reduce as far as possible lack of balance in the 4 and 6 in these areas,it is ,desirablethat the yarns 6 be near the maximum size and weightconsistent with proper flexibility of the fold areas. For this reason, Iprefer that the yarns 6 be somewhat larger and heavier than the yarns 5,as previously indicated.

It will be apparent that the size and character of the various threadsor yarns employed, as well as the character of the weave, are factorscapable of considerable variation. As a preferred example of liningmaterial constructed accord ing to the present invention, I give thefollowing: Filling, No. 53 two-ply yarn, count 68 per inch; fold areawarps, No. two-plyyarn, count 90 per inch; remaining warps, N0. 23two-ply yarn, count 90 per inch; weight of fabric in fold area about 4square yards per pound, weight of balance of fabric about 2 square yardsper pound.

While there is some difference in thickness between the fold and leafareas of my material, it is not ordinarily sufficient to result in anynoticeable ridge in the face fabrics of the collar along theedge of thefold area of the lining. However, in order to avoid any possibility ofsuch a ridge, I may gradually reduce the diameters of the longitudinallyextending yarns between the main body of the leaf portion and the edgeof the fold portion, as shown in Fig. 7.

Linings made according to my invention may consist of a single pairofintegral strips 2 and 3, the strip 2 constituting a border along oneedge of the strip 3. In such case, the strip 2 should have sufficientwidth to extend over the fold line into the neckband portion forattachment by sewing to the face plies at the top of the neckband, as inFigs. 1 and 6, a width of inch being generally suflicient for thispurpose. If desired, the strip 2 may be made as wide as the combinedfold and neckband areas to constitute a lining for the neckband, as inFigs. 2 and 5 If it is desired to stiffen the neckband portion of thecollar to a greater extent than the fold line portion, the cut lining,as shown in Fig.

3, may consist of two relatively stiff, heavy fabric strips 3 joined byan intervening flexible fold strip 2 which in such case need be onlyabout inch in width. 7

While Iprefer to weave the material in. single lining width strips,multiple liningvridth sheets of the materials illustrated in Figs.1-3.m.ay be woven with stiff areas 3 and flexible areas 2 alternatingacross the fabric, for subsequent cutting into lining strips such as areshown in Figs. 1-3. The. material may, if desired, be woven on a curve.

In making up collars, the lining material is cut or stamped into liningblanks of proper size, as indicated in dotted lines on Figs. 13. Eachblank is then assembled with a single face ply blank 1, as in Fig. 5, orseveral face ply blanks I, as in Fig. 6, and the several blanks stitchedtogether and turned in customary manner to form the collar. Care shouldbe taken. in cutting and assembling to locate the several lining areasof different characteristics properly with respect to the face plies. Ifdesired, my lining material may be coated or impregnated with chemicalsof a thermoplastic nature, conveniently prior to cutting the blanks, andthe cut blanks may thereafter be fused to the face plies. In such case,my lining material retains its characteristic greater flexibility in thefold portion, after uniform coating and fusing.

In general, I prefer to weave my lining material as an individual fabricfor subsequent cutting and assembling with plies of face fabric, aspreviously described. However, it may be made as the inner ply of amultiple'ply interwoven fabric. In such case, the size and character ofthreads in the severalportions of the lining ply are varied in the samemanneras in the separately woven lining material while the face ply orplies are woven uniform in texture throughout.

I claim:

1. A multi-ply folding collar of textile material having at least twoface plies and a separate unitary woven lining ply between said faceplies, said lining ply having a flexible fold line area and a relativelystiff turn-downleaf area, the majority of the longitudinally extendingyarns in the fold line area of said lining ply being finer and lighterthan the majority of the longitudinally extending yarns. in theturn-down leaf area of said lining ply.

2. A multi-ply folding collar of textile material having at least twoface plies and a separate unitary woven lining ply between said faceplies, said lining ply having a flexible fold line area and a relativelystiff turn-down leaf area, the majority of the longitudinally extendingyarns in said turn-down leaf area of said lining ply being coarser andheavier than the longitudinally extending yarns inv the fold line areaof 'said ply and the yarns crossing both said areas in said ply- 3. Amulti-ply folding collar of textile material having at least two faceplies and a separate unitary woven lining ply between said face plies,said lining ply having a flexible fold line area and a relatively stiffturn-down leaf area, the yarns insaid lining ply crossing both saidareas being finer and lighter than the majority of the longitudinallyextending yarns in the turn-down leaf area of said ply, but coarser andheavier than the majority of the longitudinally extending yarns in thefold line area of said ply.

4. A multi-ply folding collar of textile material having at least twoface plies and a. separate unitary woven lining ply between said faceplies,

said lining ply having flexible fold line and neckband areas and arelatively stiff turn-down leaf area, the majority of the longitudinallyextending yarns in the turn-down leaf area of said lining ply beingcoarser and heavier than the other yarns in said ply.

EDWARD A. KING.

